Disclaimer: Did you know that some studio just got the rights to do a DMC movie? Another company is doing a manga too. Everyone gets the rights for it except me. That's why none of these characters belong to me, blah blah blah.
Chapter Five: Undead Loyalty"Well, well. If it isn't my old fine-feathered-five-faced-friend. Still haven't heard about deodorant, I see. Or should I say smell?" I yelled up to the mighty bird in my usual flattering demeanor. I really wasn't in a mood to provoke anything more than twice my size and more than three times the number of heads, but it provided an opportunity to look over my old opponent and scout for new weaknesses. He was essentially the same bird. Same brown ruffled plumage, same air of regality, same inner power. But he was somehow different. Aside from being slightly bigger than I remember, there was also some sort of definite variation in his energy. "What are you doing on this side? I seem to remember seeing you die."
"Death is a navigable obstacle for a servant of fate's gate keeper."
"Oh yeah that's right," I said, leaning forward against the gusts of wind that passed over me every time the powerful devil beat it's wings, "You're working for that Slashfic of a fruit, Shin, aren't you?"
"Shin is a powerful and great master. He has granted me the strength and opportunity to kill you for the almighty Mundus…" As Griffin continued to ramble I came to the realization of what was different about him. In his chest, where there was once only a gaping vortex red power there had now grown horizontal bars of what looked like a thick, skeletal armor. In addition, the energy beneath it was a dark violet that burned with nearly twice the intensity of his former source of power.
"Yeah, yeah. Bet he didn't tell you about his grudge against Tri-Eye. He's just pissed at me 'cause I killed Mundus before he had a chance." Griffin had really increased in power. It would probably be best to avoid a direct battle.
"Why should I believe you, who had lain many a wound on me to get to my master, or He, death, who gave new life, new strength to my unanimated body, for the soul purpose of avenging my master!"
"Loyal to the end, and then some…" I said more to myself than to Griffin.
Before I spouted anything else, Trish came up just behind me and spoke softly into my ears. "Dante," she whispered, "I can't help you out with this one."
"What?!" I replied, trying to move my lips a little as possible. "Why not."
"I can't touch him. Mundus created every one of his minions so that we couldn't hurt each other. He has an oil on his feathers that could kill me if I get even a little on my skin."
"All right. Just go back to Ray's and make sure nothing happens. Keep Yin and Yang close." Trish reached down and pulled a pair of guns, almost the size of Ebony and Ivory, made from gray and silver steel. She started to turn away but was stopped suddenly by the ringing of Griffin's deep, multi-toned voice.
"Trish! So that is you. You really have betrayed our master… I will taste your blood for this.
"Flock off, featherface!" yelled Trish, in a surprisingly calm, taunting voice.
"You heard the lady. Either put your money where your beak is, or get ready to eat it!"
"What did you say, you filthy little human?!"
"I said, EAT IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!" With my warcry still handing in the air, I rushed forward. I had barely gotten my hand around Alastor's grooved handle when Griffin's reaction hit me like a ton of crap.
One Wing swooped down in a wide arc, tossing me halfway across the cobblestone street. I hit the ground poised on all fours, and chanced a glance behind me. Trish was trotting backwards towards the door of Ray's while firing a shower of bullets toward Griffin. My moment of paternal weakness almost cost me big. When I looked back I saw a quite unfazed Griffin sending a horizontal bar of pure, throbbing energy toward me. I kicked off from the ground just fast enough to feel my hair stand on end and a slight tingling burn that seemed to come more from inside of my body.
In the couple of microseconds when I was up side down I noticed the energy had seared the ground as it passed, reducing the top few centimeters to tar. If I had hit it, I might as well had been a punching bag, and I had not yet felt the familiar tensing in my muscles that meant Alastor could be released. My hands flew into my coat and drew forth Ebony and Ivory.
A loud 'Squaaaaaa!' came from Griffin's direction, obviously out of rage from the sight of the weapons that I had used to defeat him last time. But I wasn't about to aim at him when keeping myself from sticking to the road took precedence over attacking with barely effective bullets.
I twisted my body parallel to the ground and stretched one arm toward the slurry of pavement and the other straight with my body. I squeezed back on the their triggers as fast as I ever had before, the crack of gunpowder was blended with the popping of my stiff fingers and the 'splooch' of lead striking the still seething street. With every shot I could feel my arched body being harshly pushed upward and backward toward the nearest building. I looked up in the direction one of my arms had been firing and saw that most of my bullets had, by chance, come in contact with Griffin but had done little more than ruffle his feathers.
"Do you see you fool?! Mightier is the power of Shin than even I dreamed! He has made me even more powerful!"
I had finally reached the concrete structure I had been moving towards. I ceased fire and dropped like a stone. I pushed Ebony and Ivory out of sight just fast enough grab hold of a brass statue of an eagle's head that jutted from the building, like the dozens of others that continued down the street. I spun around the gothic architecture like a child's clacker toy in a windstorm.
"Strong enough to kill the son of Sparda!" I couldn't hold on to the statue much longer, the friction was already starting to heat the leather of my gloves. I knew I wouldn't have to struggle to stay on much longer though, as a trampling sound and bursts of wind as with impatiently beating wings signaled Griffin charging.
I released the statue and let my body fling limply into the air. A deafening clash and a clang cracked the silence of the wide streets. A second later I landed nimbly on my feet on the next statue, my knees buckling ever so slightly. I turned on my heel toward where I had just jumped. Standing there was Griffin looking slightly dazed and where the statue had been there was only a crater filled with crushed stone and flattened brass.
"Aww, does the irony give the ickle spring chicken a headache?" I hollered, a note of laughter overt in my voice.
Griffin whirled around toward the source of the voice, a half confused, half-enraged fire burning in his many sets of eyes.
"I've cooked you before, turkey, but I'm more in the mood for desert. Here's my impression of the Gingerbread Man!" With that I took off down the street, leaping from one eagle statue to the next. I landed with only one foot before taking off, forming more of a long, awkward run than a series of leaps. I peered over my shoulder to see Griffin's massive form right behind me, tearing away statues as he went. I hiked off of a street lamp and jumped unsteadily onto a windowsill, but Griffin's enhanced reaction time had kept him right on my ass. I switched back over too the more uniformly dispersed statues and headed on with only one thought in my head. Got to get him away from Ray's.
"Stop running you coward!" came Griffin's voice, a roar of impatience. I immediately felt the tingle of the hairs on my neck standing on end. I leaped moments before another powerful blast of purple electricity tore down the road reducing all of the remaining statues to piles of golden colored goop dripping down the wall.
This was another chance for me to hit a brick wall. I had no hope of making it where I was leading him on the ground if he melted it again. I had to stay up in the air.
My mind shot to memories of the chateau where we had run into Shin's minions. It had worked once… We didn't have very far to go, and anything was worth a shot…
I hit the ground with one hand and sprung towards the wall of buildings that lined the opposite end of the street. When I was an inch from ramming into the stone walls, I began pumping my legs as hard as I could. The sides of my soles hit hard against the concrete of the buildings, and my ankles twisted painfully with the first couple of steps, but I had gotten more than the desired results. I had hoped to run up the wall as I did at the mansion. What I had managed to do was run horizontally along the wall.
A loud growling crow from behind me showed that Griffin was expecting this even less than I was.
I, on the other hand, didn't have the time to be surprised. I continued to jab at the wall with my legs, the strength in my ankles forking tiny cracks the brick on every pounding step. It can't be more than a block…
Then I saw it. The spot where I had been trying to lead Griffin.
I reached a huge archway made up of two identical stone angels reaching out to each other. It's decrepit structuring crumbled away as I hiked off of one of the pillars that supported it, launching me straight through whatever lay beyond it.
I twisted my shoulders around and flung myself into a corkscrew spin, an impossible target in case Griffin was closer behind me than I thought.
A second later I landed wide-footed with Alastor drawn and at the ready. I stood in the middle of a long forgotten town square, a wide circle lined in sun-bleached-yellow buildings. I wasn't, however, observing these surroundings but staring intently back through the archway. Sure enough it exploded way a second later in a shower of stone as the mass of chestnut feathers that was Griffin entered.
He glared for a moment before splitting his many faces in a multi-voiced roar. With an effortless brush of his wings he swung a disembodied head of one of the angels toward me. Brought Alastor around three times rendering the former sculpture into formless chunks of marble. I shot one hand behind my back and felt one of the pieces drop heavily into my hand. I brought it out from around my back spinning on the tip of my index finger.
"Plenty of room here," I said just loud enough for him to hear me. I let the stone fall into my palm before easily reducing it to a fine powder, my eyes never leaving his. "That means no holding back!!!"
